Page 47 of Free Fall (The Quantico Files 3)

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Alex lay in her bed, Krypto next to her, snoring away. Tears ran down the sides of her face.

God, please help me get past what happened in that warehouse. I need to be there for Logan. I’m afraid he doesn’t feel like he can lean on me because he’s still worried about me. I understand that it might take a while to heal from the trauma, but I can’t wait any longer. Logan needs me now. Please rescue me. I give you the fear, the anxiety, and the nightmares. I want to walk away from that warehouse. Leave it in the past. And, God, please, please heal Logan. Let the tumor be benign. I ... I love him. I don’t want him to leave my life. I’ve lost so many people. I can’t stand to lose someone else who matters to me.

She lay there a little longer, letting the tears wet her pillow. Krypto had stopped snoring, and Alex turned her head and saw the beautiful white pit bull staring at her. Then he started licking the tears from her face. Alex wrapped her arms around him, praying God would give her the desire of her heart.

Tracy lay in bed with her eyes closed. She could hear drawers sliding open. The door was open, and the light from the hallway made it possible for her to see someone leaning over the dresser. She jumped up and ran toward him, grabbed him from the back, and held the knife up in the air. Her sudden move seemed to surprise him, and he turned around quickly, losing his balance. She watched as he fell backward, his head hitting the side of the dresser. He slumped to the floor, completely unconscious. For some reason she stood there for several seconds, trying to figure out what to do next. Then she realized she didn’t need to do anything.

She quickly slid on her shoes and ran toward the door. She knew there were two of them. What if the other one was watching her? But she had to take that chance. She slowly stepped into the hallway and quietly closed the door behind her. She paused for a moment, wondering if she should go back, get the man’s keys, and lock him in. But she was afraid he’d wake up and grab her. Her best bet was to get out of there as quickly as possible and get help. She couldn’t take anyone with her because they’d all been drugged. If only she had her phone, but she had no idea what they’d done with it.

Looking around, she suddenly realized why this place seemed familiar. It was a wine cellar. A large one, with the wine removed and the rooms for different wines turned into cells. She’d visited one once when she was on vacation with her parents. That explained why there weren’t any windows. Expensive wines were kept in temperature-controlled rooms, away from light.

She counted six cells, including hers. One of the doors was open, across the hall to the left of the woman who’d told her not to talk to anyone. She quickly looked inside. The room seemed to have been prepared for someone.

A little way down the hallway, to the right of her own cell, she saw a closed door. That was the direction the blond man with the food cart always came from. What was on the other side? Freedom? Or was her abductor there?

She carefully pulled the door open and discovered a set of stairs. Off to one side was an old dumbwaiter they must be using to send food down for the food cart. She slowly made her way up the stairs, listening for footsteps. But she heard nothing. She pushed the door at the top of the staircase open and stepped into a large kitchen. It was like something out of a home-decorating magazine. Beautiful. Granite countertops, subway tiles on the wall, and a large island with the same granite. Whoever these guys were, they had money. That surprised her. Then she saw French doors that led outside.

Crying, she ran toward them, dropping the knife on the floor. She turned the door handles with both hands, but the doors were locked. No. This couldn’t be happening. Then she noticed a small knob above the handles. She turned it, and it made a clicking sound. She tried again, and the doors opened.

Tracy ran out into the night, gulping in fresh air as if she’d been drowning and desperately needed to breathe. She was in a yard with a large privacy fence around it. She couldn’t see a gate, so she turned and ran the other way. It was hard to make out much with only one outside light, but she also had moonlight overhead. It was enough to see she was approaching something she couldn’t believe. An amusement park! It wasn’t large. Several rides, some concession stands, some picnic tables in one area. This was crazy. Where was she?

She was almost at the end of the park, running toward some trees, when lights suddenly blazed and music started to play. What was happening? At that moment she realized she should have grabbed a sharp knife from the kitchen. It was a stupid mistake. The desire for freedom had overcome reason. She refused to look back and kept running toward the trees, but just as she got close, she found herself facing a metal fence. Not seeing a gate here either, she decided to climb over it.

She put her hands on the fence and screamed as an electric shock knocked her to the ground. She felt herself drifting away, but before the blackness overtook her, she saw someone standing over her.

Alex was walking through some kind of maze. She couldn’t see anything except high walls all around her. She walked and walked, trying to find her way out. Finally, she saw a light and headed toward it. When she reached it, it was so bright she couldn’t look at it very long. But before she turned her gaze away, she could make out large, white, glowing wings. She fell to her knees, realizing she was standing in front of an angel.

“What do you want from me?” she asked.

“You must listen carefully,” a voice said. It wasn’t male or female. She’d never heard anything like it before. “There is danger ahead. Lives are at stake, including yours. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“You must be led by the voice in your heart. Not the voice in your head. Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”

Alex started to ask a question, but then the angel was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. The dream began to drift away from her, and she called out to God.

She opened her eyes and lay on her bed wondering what the dream meant. This was the second one that seemed to be warning her something bad was about to happen. She’d started having strange dreams as soon as she’d become a Christian. They seemed so real. She had to believe that God was speaking to her. She remembered a Scripture in the Bible about the last days. That people would be having dreams.

“God,” she said aloud, “I don’t know what’s coming, but I know you’re with me. Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it. No matter what.”

Then she turned on her side, wrapped her arms around Krypto, and drifted off.

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